Romantic Century's MAESTRO Begins Performances Tomorrow, January 3rd

Ensemble for the Romantic Century continues the 2018 - '19 season, ERC's 18th, with Maestro by Eve Wolf, beginning performances Thursday January 3rd. Opening Night is set for January 14th. This limited Off-Broadway engagement runs through February 9th only. Performances will be at The Duke on 42nd Street (229 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues).

Donald T. Sanders, ERC Director of Theatrical Production, directs John Noble in the title role. Maestro also features Mari Lee and Henry Wang on violins, Matthew Cohen on viola, Ari Evan on cello, Zhenni Li on piano, and Maximilian Morel on trumpet.

"Love & Justice & Music. The baton of a great musician breaks thru the sickness and savagery of the modern world. In Maestro by Eve Wolf, our new production about the legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, audiences can see, hear and feel thru the power of his real words and beautiful music how this passionately defiant man worked to defeat Fascism," said Mr. Sanders.

MAESTRO brings to life the story of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini and his brave opposition to Fascism. His refusal to perform in Italy and Germany, and his trips to Palestine to conduct an orchestra made up of Jewish refugees made headlines around the world. Drawing on his passionate letters to his lover, the young Italian pianist Ada Mainardi, along with music by his contemporaries, this moving theatrical experience shows us that even during one of the darkest chapters in human history, an artist's voice can be heard.

John Noble is an esteemed voice, television, film, and stage actor who is best recognized for his work as Dr. Walter Bishop on JJ Abrams' cult favorite, "Fringe." John reunited with Fringe co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, for the first two seasons of "Sleepy Hollow," followed by a season on "Elementary" for CBS as Sherlock Holmes's father. He has also hosted "Dark Matters" for The Science Channel and broke out internationally inThe Lord of the Rings trilogy as Denethor in The Two Towers and Return of the King. John is extremely proud of his thespian roots, having spent the first half of his career acting and directing in the theatre. Highlights include serving ten years as the Artistic Director of the Stage Company of South Australia, directing a production of David Williamson's Sons of Cain that transferred to London's West End, and acting in an award-winning production of Rob George's Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure Book for Boys at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. In addition, John has garnered great critical acclaim for his performances in New York in the Off-Broadway productions Substance of Fire andPosterity and has lent his voice to such games as "Batman Arkham Knight," "LA Noire," "Superman: Unbound," "Transformers Prime," and "The Last Airbender." Most recently, John has appeared in "Salvation," "DC's Legends of Tomorrow," "The Librarians," "The Blacklist," "Silencio," and more episodes of "Elementary."

The critically acclaimed Ensemble for the Romantic Century, now in its 18th Season, conjures the past with original multimedia productions that fuse chamber music, drama, and history. The subject matters span across centuries, from Tolstoy to Toscanini, from Verne to Van Gogh, all brought to life through the fusion of drama and sound. We believe that one can understand Freud more deeply by listening to the erotic cabaret music of fin de siècle Vienna, that one can appreciate Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" more profoundly by listening to him speak of his tortured love life and his debilitating deafness. By illuminating the interplay between literature, biography and music we have transformed the concert experience.

ERC was founded by pianist Eve Wolf in 2001 with the intention of creating an engaging and innovative approach to chamber music concerts. ERC's theatrical concerts interweave letters, memoirs, diaries, poems, and other literature with chamber and vocal music; the music's historical context is reinforced through its connections with history, politics, philosophy, psychology, and the other arts to create a compelling new performance experience. These unique productions merge dramatic and fully staged scripts with music, recapturing the past with a sense of immediacy that transports, illuminates, and captivates. The scripts, drawn from historical material that includes letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper articles, poetry, and literature create an intricate counterpoint to the musical program. The subject matters span across centuries, from Tolstoy to Toscanini, from Verne to Van Gogh, all brought to life through the fusion of drama and music. By illuminating the interplay between literature, biography and music ERC has transformed the concert experience. The Romantic Century was about imagination and experimentation. Elevating the human condition through art: that is the spirit we hope to summon.

ERC has created over 40 original theatrical concerts at such institutions as BAM (Brooklyn Academy Of Music); Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA; The Jewish Museum of New York; the Archivio Fano of Venice, Italy; the Festival de Musique de Chambre Montréal; the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts/MIFA; the French Institute-Alliance Française/FIAF, New York; the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University; the Italian Cultural Institute of New York; and the City University of New York (CUNY). ERC's programs are distinguished by their artistic excellence, breadth of repertoire, and variety of subject matter. In its relatively short history, the Ensemble for the Romantic Century has enriched the music scene with highly innovative productions that are also historically informed, aesthetically exquisite, and emotionally transporting.